Manchester United struggling to crack the midfield combination

Sir Alex Ferguson likes to pair a passer with a runner in central midfield but injuries have disrupted United's plans

Manchester United's central midfield pairing of Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick contemplate defeat at Newcastle alongside Wayne Rooney, who has also been played in that position this season. Photograph: Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images

It has been obvious since the summer that Sir Alex Ferguson has needed a new central midfielder. Back then, the focus was upon bringing in a creative player, summed up by the apparent pursuit of Inter's Wesley Sneijder.

That never really made sense, though. While Sneijder has played in a deeper-lying role at points in his career, his current reputation comes from his excellent 2009-10 season, when fielded just behind the main striker by José Mourinho. "I don't like playing in central midfield at all," he says. "I am an attacking player, not a central midfielder … better a second striker than a central midfielder."

He was never a replacement for Paul Scholes – in recent years Scholes played in front of the defence, having started his career behind the striker. Sneijder would, in his mind, play the role occupied currently by Wayne Rooney.

Another issue is Sneijder's simple lack of form – his World Cup 2010 campaign was not nearly as good as his goal tally suggested, and he has never reached anything like the form he showed during his treble-winning campaign. Like many before him, he has suffered a startling dip in form after Mourinho's departure.

Regardless, United were looking for a passer. For much of last season, Ferguson played a two-man midfield combination of a "passer" – Scholes or Michael Carrick, and a "runner" – Darren Fletcher or Anderson. It creates a nice balance – two passers and you lack mobility, two runners and you lack guile.

His intention is to continue with the same pattern. Tom Cleverley has shown excellent distribution skills since his return, and has been described by Ferguson as "probably the best midfield player in Britain, potentially". He is perfect for the role as a passer. In the first four games of United's season, the passer-runner partnership featured in the centre of the pitch, courtesy of Cleverley and Anderson. United were supreme, winning those matches by a combined scoreline of 18-3 – but since then they have been unable to field that combination, and the midfield has looked much weaker.

There is clearly little point in buying a player like Cleverley. He will soon return from injury and should star for United for much of the next decade, and there has also been a bonus in the form of Carrick. He did not start any of United's first 11 games of the campaign and appeared to be out of the picture, but since getting his first start at Swansea on 19 November, he has not missed a minute of Premier League action.

"Now is the time for him to start a long period of dominating the centre of midfield like he has in the last few weeks," Ferguson said in December. "He's been instrumental in what's happening to the team at the moment, and his performances have been quite outstanding." Suddenly, the need for a passer is less pressing.

Instead, the other role needs addressing. Anderson is returning from injury but his fitness is always an issue, while there is no timeframe for Fletcher's return. Ryan Giggs no longer has the legs to charge across the pitch and, although Phil Jones has performed admirably in midfield, despite a nervous performance at Newcastle on Wednesday night, he still looks more likely to be a centre-back. Park Ji-sung, Rafael da Silva and Rooney have similarly been played out of position in the middle – presumably because they are all known for being able to cover a lot of ground in their regular positions, underlining the attributes United need in the engine room of the side.

The defeat to Newcastle summed up the woes. Alan Pardew admitted after the game that he "took a gamble with a high press", but turning the midfield into a physical, fast-paced battle was not so much a gamble, it was simply the logical option. With Carrick and Giggs in the middle, United wanted to slow the tempo and control the game patiently. They did not have battling qualities, the eagerness and energy of Cheik Tioté and Yohan Cabaye were too much for United to deal with, and Newcastle won the ball high up, barely allowing United a sight of goal.

The combination of Tioté and Cabaye is the template for United. They have clearly contrasting qualities – Tioté is an all-action battler, while Cabaye admits he looks at his passing statistics and aims to touch the ball 100 times a game. He sees playing the "very difficult or beautiful pass" as his job. The most successful midfield partnerships in the Premier League this season follow a similar pattern; Gareth Barry's dependability on the ball is combined with Yaya Touré's physicality, Luka Modric's craftiness is paired with Scott Parker's determination.

The ideal solution would be the return of Darren Fletcher from his ulcerative colitis, but that seems unlikely this season. He will be welcomed back when he is ready, but United cannot afford to recreate the Owen Hargreaves situation and be a man light in midfield for an extended period.

All this assumes United will always play a two-man central midfield. In reality, Ferguson's use of a midfield trio at Anfield in October shows he still likes an extra man in that zone away at the biggest clubs, and United still have to go to the Etihad, White Hart Lane, Stamford Bridge and the Emirates this season. If Anderson, Carrick and Cleverley can get to the end of the season injury-free United will not suffer, but the January transfer window looks particularly inviting after two consecutive defeats.= =

Exploiting the extra man

Post-match discussion after Norwich's 2-1 win over Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road was inevitably centred upon the controversial red card shown to Joey Barton, but less attention was paid to how Paul Lambert reacted excellently when Norwich found themselves with an extra man.

Lambert had started with his narrow diamond system, intended to dominate the centre of the pitch and prevent the opposition from playing their way through the middle. While this broadly worked in the first half, with Norwich seeing more of the ball than QPR, it lacked width. With the opposition reduced to 10 men, the natural instinct is always to make the playing zone as wide as possible. Lambert, therefore, completely changed his system with a brave triple substitution on 66 minutes, turning a 4-4-2 diamond into a 3-4-1-2. The changed worked – Simon Pilkington caused havoc in his new role on the left, and the substitute Steve Morison turned in the winner after Pilkington's cross wasn't cleared. You rarely see a 3-4-1-2 in the Premier League, and certainly not a triple substitution for tactical reasons – Lambert is proving to be one of the league's most interesting managers.

A tale of two keepers

While each has their individual strengths and weaknesses, goalkeepers are generally considered exempt from tactical thought. A manager simply picks the better goalkeeper – it is not often that the goalkeeper considered weaker overall is much better at one particular area of goalkeeping, with the exception of when a penalty-saving specialist is summoned for a shoot-out.

It's not often, though, that a manager seeks to rotate his goalkeepers as much as Sir Alex Ferguson has with David de Gea and Anders Lindegaard in recent weeks. If keen to give both a chance, perhaps Ferguson should play Lindegaard against opponents likely to give the goalkeeper a physical test. It seems odd that, of the games against Wigan, Blackburn and Newcastle, the one match he used De Gea in was against Blackburn, who attempt the fourth-fewest shots per match, but have scored the fourth-highest number of goals from set pieces. Like in the game away at Stoke, when De Gea made a couple of fine saves but was caught out from a high corner into the six-yard box, it was a game for the more physical of United's two goalkeepers, rather than the better shot-stopper.

A cross to bear

Andy Carroll's woes at Liverpool continued with a poor display in the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City, but statistically he is at the club that suits his game the most. Liverpool attempt 30 crosses per match in the Premier League this season, more than any other – Everton are next on 27 per match, with Manchester United on 26.

While this figure doesn't take into account the position of the cross, nor the quality of the ball played into the box, it's still staggering that Liverpool cross the ball into the box every three minutes. Whatever the reason for Carroll's poor form, it certainly isn't a case of Liverpool not trying to play to his strengths.

Michael Cox is the editor of tactics website zonalmarking.net. Read his new weekly column at guardian.co.uk